Sir, – Colum Kenny's suggestion that the Seanad should go on tour is inspired ("A radical idea to solve Seanad accommodation problem – it should get on the road", Opinion & Analysis, November 17th).
However, if these exalted personages, the Senators, cannot bring themselves to venture outside the Pale, the Old Parliament Building on College Green is the obvious first choice for a temporary home. But, given the apparent intransigence of the Bank of Ireland regarding this concept, what would be wrong with the Mansion House? After all, it was good enough for the first Dáil.
Should the desecration of the National Museum take place, the Seanad will have passed from benign uselessness to malign ignorance. – Yours, etc,
FERGUS CAHILL,
Dunboyne, Co Meath.
Sir, – Colum Kenny’s article should be made compulsory reading for our Senators. At a time when there is an ever-increasing number of homeless people sleeping on the streets of Dublin, the proposal to accommodate a small group of privileged individuals, albeit on a temporary basis, in the National Museum is truly shameful.
What do the individual Senators themselves think? Is it necessary that for their comfort and convenience there should be such disruption to one of our national institutions, one which Mr Kenny rightly points out, has had its funding reduced to the level of a “wing and a prayer”, not just in the recent past but over the years since the British left?
Colum Kenny writes that "heritage interests, including An Taisce, have rightly expressed concern". The Old Dublin Society, a nominating body to the Seanad, would like to add its voice to those interests and to the many private citizens who have recorded their views on the matter in letters to The Irish Times. – Yours, etc,
BERNARDINE
RUDDY,
Honorary President,
Old Dublin Society,
Dublin 3.
Sir, – There is no need to move the Seanad while the Seanad Chamber is being refurbished. There is a simple, inexpensive and non -disruptive solution staring us in the face within Leinster House itself. The Dáil does not normally sit on Mondays, Tuesday mornings, Fridays (or indeed Saturdays).
Is there any sensible, logical reason why the Dáil chamber could not be used by the Seanad on those days? – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN O’DONNELL,
Glenageary, Co Dublin.